Confessions of a Pokemon Thief
by tikimonkey
Summary: The story of one young trainer's rise to championship and tragic fall.
1. Life in Goldenrod City

**Chapter I: Life in Goldenrod City**

I know that there are a lot of you who hate me; I can only ask that you do not judge me until you understand the reasons why I've done the things that I've done. That is why I am writing these confessions, so that maybe you will know that I am not all bad... it's just the way things happened… there were things that I could not control. Team Rocket was not responsible for my win in the Kanto League Championship; I DID NOT CHEAT! This is my story—this is the way a Champion became a criminal in less than a year.

When I was younger the last thing that I wanted to do was become a Pokemon Trainer, or Master, or anything. All I was trying to do was make some money for my family. I grew up in Goldenrod City, the largest city in Johto. I haven't been there in years, but at the time I lived there advertisements spoke of technological masterpieces like the great Radio Station, broadcasting through the entire region of Johto, and the newly constructed Magnet Train, faster than a speeding bullet. Yeah, Goldenrod looked like quite the tourist's spot in all the magazines, the height of civilization, but in reality the rich were getting richer and the poor poorer, of course I was unfortunate enough to be poor.

I was the oldest of five children and my mother worked two jobs to support us, my father… we'll talk about him later. Anyway, instead of embarking on some great Pokemon journey at the age of 10, I went right to work. For four years I worked in the mailroom of the great Radio Station in Goldenrod City, the pay was low, but it was certainly good enough. My younger brother, Joseph, was just about to turn 10 as well, so things would start getting easier soon, or so I thought.

One day, I was walking home from the Radio Station. My boss had asked me if I could stay a few hours later and I never say no to overtime so I gladly accepted. He was very fond of me and I knew that because of my age I couldn't get any sort of promotion for at least another two years, but I had a feeling that I wouldn't have to wait long after turning sixteen to get that promotion. Looking back, that style of thinking just seems so naïve, if only I had known where I'd actually be two years later… nonetheless, it was getting late and it was dark. I had missed the bus so I had to walk home, but I didn't care because I'd just been paid earlier that day. So, I walked through the dark streets with a check in a my hand.

Recently, there had been a spike in gang-related activity in Goldenrod, wonder why… anyway, it had led way to the creation of some pretty powerful gangs in Goldenrod. The strongest was one that moved in from over in Kanto, I believe it's mother city at the time was a little town called Viridian City, it was called Team Rocket. I was lucky enough to run into a member of Team Rocket that night. As I was turning a corner I noticed a man dressed in all black (shoes, shirt, pants, hat) with a deep red "R" facing me on his hat. On his face was a black mask, covering his eyes and his nose.

"Alright, son!" he yelled, "I'm gonna need you to give me all you've got."

"I don't have any money." I replied, honestly, if you don't could the check.

"Now, kid…" he began, talking down to me again, "the problem with that excuse is that I just don't believe you, now I'm going to ask you again, nicely, could you please give me any spare change you have on you? I'm not a crook, I'm just a rich beggar."

"I don't care whether or not you believe me, it doesn't change the face that I don't have any money! Now, just leave."

He started laughing. "Oh, kid, quit the cute act." He reached back into his belt and pulled out a Pokeball. "Ekans, go!" A purple snake appeared on the ground in front of me. It hissed as it slithered towards me and began to climb my leg. It felt cold, wet. "Now, let's see if Ekans can find anything on you." The snake began crawling through clothes, searching for any sort of money, anywhere. It emerged from my shirt, it's head next to mine, with my wallet in it's mouth. It slithered out of my clothes and back towards the criminal. I remained frozen with fear. The Team Rocket member began digging through my wallet. "Well, Ethan… Stone, is it? It looks like you were holding out on me." The snake was coiled around his legs. "You've got a pretty big check here, I can't use it now, but I'm sure my boss can." The snake hissed and rattled it's coil. "Now, I'm going to teach you a thing or two about Pokemon. Do you know what happens when an Ekans bites it's prey?" I shook my head in the negative. "Really? Well, first it sinks it's fangs in deep, so deep that only the Ekans itself can remove them, not without tearing the flesh, of course." The Ekans opened it's mouth wide, revealing four huge fangs. "Then it secretes a deadly poison, capable of taking down a Snorlax." I could see the poison dripping from it's fangs. "Now, do you know what I'm about to say?" I shook my head in the negative again. He calmly, inhumanely calmly said: "Ekans, bite" and the snake darted towards me.

I was running as fast as I could, trying to put as many objects between myself and the snake, but it was no use. No matter how hard I tried I could still hear it hissing and slithering behind me, above me, in the fire escapes. I reached a busy street, lots of lights, and ran across as quickly as I could, passing several cars on my way. When I reached the other side I put my back to the wall to catch my breath. I looked back at the bright lights of the road. It couldn't have made it across, it must've turned back. I heard the old familiar coil up above my head. I felt a cool, wet liquid drop onto my head. Poison! I ran again. Through all of the dark alleys it chased me until… THUD! I tripped! The snake began to coil around my legs. It was very tight, very painful. It kept going. By the time my entire body was entangled the Team Rocket member arrived. He knelt down and looked me in the eyes. "Look kid, he likes you!" said the criminal, "I have a propostion for you, kid!"

"What?" I asked, barely making out the words.

"How would you like to join us?" he asked, "Tonight, I have a special job to do and I think you could be of some help."

"No way!" I replied.

"Really?" he asked, the snake tightened, "I'll give you back all the money I stole from you, better yet, I can double it."

I really needed the money. It was going straight to bills, maybe if this had happened a few weeks later and Joseph had been working I would've said no, but now there was nothing else I could do. So I said "Okay."

"Great!" He laughed. He held up his Pokeball and summoned the Ekans back to it's chamber. I was free. He reached out his hand and said "Now, let's get you a Pokemon."


	2. Through the Alleyways

**Chapter II:**** Through the Alley****way****s**

He led me to a dark alley, clutching my arm most of the way, it felt hard, forced. There were a few glowing lights up above, hazy in the smog of the streets. There were others; three men standing around a dumpster, they all appeared to be the same dark figure from my perspective. He led me toward them. One of the men stood apart from the crowd.

"Hey, Rojer, whose the kid?" he yelled, looking irritated.

"Relax, relax," started Rojer, "I found this kid on the way here and I politely offered him membership, I think he can be of use to us."

"I don't care!" replied the man, looking even angrier "I don't want to get anyone too green caught up in this. He needs experience first."

Rojer edged closer to the man. "Listen, Joe," he said in a whipser, "this kid will do anything for us, I guarantee it. We wait outside and let him do all the dirty work, then he hands us the goods and we split. What d'you think?"

The man muttered something to Rojer, I couldn't hear what, but Rojer had a huge smile on his face as he turned back towards me.

"His name is Ethan," Rojer said towards the men "and we're going to need to give him a Pokemon if he's going to be of any use to us. Whose got a recent catch?"

The men were silent.

"C'mon guys," Rojer continued, "where's your heart?" he asked, laughing.

The men chuckled, then silence. Rojer pointed to the man standing furthest in the back.

"Scott!" Rojer yelled, "what's the most recent Pokemon you caught?"

Scott stepped forward, reluctantly. "I caught a Machop during our last job in Kanto."

"Let's see it!" Rojer responded.

Scott threw his PokeBall onto the ground and a small, gray creature with three brown, fin-looking things on it's head materialized. Rojer took a step closer and examined the creature, then he looked back towards me.

"Ethan, do you like this Pokemon?"

"Yeah, but if…"

"It's yours." Rojer said "Scott! Hand it over."

"But…"

"Scott, you have plenty of Pokemon of your own already, you wont miss this one at all, now do as I say and hand it over!"

Scott returned the Pokemon to it's chamber. The creature looked at me as it departed, sizing me up. Scott yelled "Catch!" as he threw the ball toward me. I caught it at first, but then it fumbled out of my fingers and fell to the floor. I picked it up. For the first time in my life I had a Pokemon. Even though I had never wanted one before, now that I had one, I had this urge inside of me to use it, to battle. I couldn't wait to start the job, I just couldn't wait.

"Do you even know what moves Machop has?" asked Joe. I didn't know, I shook my head in the negative, embarrased by the question. "It's young and weak right now, so all it can use is Leer and Low Kick, Leer will cut down the enemy's defenses, while Low Kick is a 'fighting' move that causes physical harm to the opponent." Joe turned to face the audience. "Alright, now for why we're here tonight! There's a PokeMart several streets over, all we've got to do is break in and steal two things in particular, 1.) all of the money in the store, for obvious reasons and 2.) any antidotes that you can find, Team Rocket's planning an operation in Azalea Town there are going to be lots of "bug" Pokemon there, so lots of poisonous Pokemon and we need all of the goods we can get. Team Rocket is actually planning several of these raids tonight, all over Johto, tomorrow the stolen goods will be shipped to the officers already in Azalea Town before many of our recruits are redirected there. Now,let's head over to the store, I'll report the best COA there."

"Follow me." Rojer whispered to me.

"Now, disband!" Joe yelled.

The men scattered. I followed behind Rojer as he ran to the left, further down the alleyway. I followed him through the dark corridors, across the bright steets, and back into the darkness. I knew it was wrong, but I actually enjoyed doing this. I loved running through the streets, hiding from police, and knowing that I could only the trust the man next to me, who I just met, who just threatened me, who I could hardly trust at all. I also couldn't wait to use my Pokemon, I was hoping that I would have a chance tonight, even though I didn't know what I was doing at all. We reached the PokeMart. All of the lights were out.

"Nobody's there," started Joe, "but there are lots of security cameras, even though it's a small store. Luckilly, crime's high these days and it's late at night, so most of the police are probably busy with something else already. So, here's what we're going to do. We're going to send Ethan in first…" I trembled at the first mention of my name "to break in, at this point an alarm will go off. He will then use his Machop's strength to remove the cash register and open it up. Meanwhile, the four of us will enter from the same point of entry that Ethan created and rob the rest of the store blind, be sure to look for antidotes. We will have five minutes to do this. We will regroup at the meeting spot with our goods, which will all be delivered to me. When this is done I will give you your cut and you can go. Got it?"

We all nodded. I was nervous, but I understood what I needed to do. I ran across the street, no cars, too late. I threw the PokeBall and released Machop.

"Machop, use Low Kick on the windows!" I commanded, he complied… it felt great, I actually got him to do something, it felt so empowering.

The alarm immediately started to ring and I ran toward the cash register. Machop followed, I couldn't believe it.

"Machop, can you pull this cash register out?" I asked. The creature nodded and grabbed onto the register. I was amazed watching him pull and tug on the register… it was bolted to the table! I looked up and saw the other four men grabbing everything else in the store as frantically as the could, piling all the goods into little bags. I saw Rojer stealing some Super Potions and I began to wonder. He seemed truly concerned for my safety and well-being, but he was so cruel to me earlier in the night. I hope I get paid. I had an idea. Machop had just gotten the register off of the table. "Great job, Machop!" I said, "now can you open the drawer?" He began pulling. I heard Joe yell "One minute left, everybody grab what you can and move out!" Machop finished getting the drawer open. Everyone else was gone. I pocketed most of the fifties for myself. I returned Machop to the PokeBall.

I ran out of the store, nobody was left, anywhere. I tried to remember the way back, I knew that I had to go across the road, but aside from that all the twists and turns of the alleyways were so confusing. I ran frantically, I saw something I recognized, something I didn't. I crossed the road, familiar. Chaos again. I ran and ran and ran, for what felt like hours.

"Ethan!" I heard called out.

I turned around and saw them standing in an alley I had just passed. All waiting there for me, for the money.

"Where the Hell were you?" asked Joe, "We've been waiting for half an hour."

I walked toward them and handed Joe the cash register.

"Sorry, got lost." I said.

"Well, don't do it again," replied Joe. He counted the money in the cash register. I cringed and felt the stolen money in my pockets, I stole from criminals. "Looks good." I sighed in relief. "Alright everyone I've got your cash." Joe handed all of the others checks for a certain amount of money, but when I got to him he said: "Sorry, I didn't know you were going to be here, Ethan, I'll just have to pay you from out of the register." He handed me several hundreds and I was done.

Without another word they were all gone. I walked home alone that night, just like when the night began. Except I wasn't entirely alone, I had Machop now. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with him just yet. Maybe he could help around the house, I still didn't have any desire to be a trainer yet. The stars in the sky looked clearer in this smoggy city than they ever had before.

I was so naïve then, little did I know that several miles away my fate was being discussed by the members of Team Rocket. Rojer, my friend and guardian, was having a drink with the others when I became the topic of discussion.

"So, are we ever going to see that new kid again?" asked Scott.

"No way," replied Joe, "did you see the way he handled that Machop? Totally amature! Seriously Rojer, what were you thinking when you picked him up?"

"Well, at first I was just going to rob him," started Rojer, "but then I remembered that Giovanni was looking for a few young trainers for the new 'project' he's starting and I thought the kid might work."

"Really, THAT kid?" asked Joe.

"Yeah, I see a lot of potential in him," started Rojer, "I think that if we lead him in the right direction he could win, or at least come close, but if he doesn't have the right stuff he'll fail long before he gets there. I'll push him along anyway, though, and hope for the best. If he makes it, I'll be promoted in no time."

"I don't know, do you really, seriously think he's ready to do all of THAT?" asked Joe.

"I don't really care, it's not about him… it's about ME."


	3. Proposal

**Chapter III: Proposal**

At some time in the next week or so Rojer stood before a very, very powerful man. I don't know the name of the town, or the name of the building, but I'm sure it was in some big, lavish room. Most of the lights would probably be out, especially near the desk in the back of the room. Sitting in the desk would be a man smoking a cigar. The smoke from the cigar would be the only thing you would be able to see aside from the whites of his eyes and a thin outline of his figure. He would be petting a beautiful Persian purring at his side. His walls would be lined with thousands of books on topics like business, Pokemon, and crime. On a shelf would be hundreds of Pokeballs containing hundreds of Pokemon, some of which he caught himself, others he stole.

In a cold demeanor the man would ask Rojer what his business was.

"I have for you a candidate for the new operation you've briefed us all about." I assume Rojer said, as professinally as he could muster.

The man would ask a few questions about my age, physical appearance, and experience handling Pokemon, Rojer probably responded truthfully to all of these inquiries. Finally the man would remind Rojer that the operation was supposed to be an entirely private enterprise and that Rojer would only be paid according to the amount of gym badges that I won and furthermore how well I did in the Johto league championships… if I made it that far.

"I understand," Rojer would respond, "but you now realize that this kid is part of the operation?"

The man would laugh.

"There are dozens more of him."

In three days Machop had fixed the plumbing, patched the roof, and fixed dozens of broken items in our house. Meanwhile, I was making tons of money working overtime at the Radio Station. There was a girl at the Radio Station, about the same age as me. She worked as a Secretary for a Secretary, probably for another several Secretaries after that too. Lately I hadn't been able to take my eyes off of her. One day I approached her and asked what her name was.

"Samantha," she responded.

I told her my name in response and complained about working in the mailroom, she followed with a complaint about her job. Turns out that Samantha and I have a lot in common. She told me that she only works here so that she can support her family as well. Her real dream is to become a Pokemon Trainer and travel the world, which she's trying to save up to be able to do. I told her that I had recently received my first Pokemon (I didn't tell her how, of course) and that it was a Machop. Instantly, she spouted out tons of information about Machop, what level he evolves, what move he learns at each level, even things like what his HP cap is. I must admit that I was really surprised by her wealth of knowledge. I really enjoyed talking to her it became what I looked forward to each day at work. Eventually I invited her over to see Machop, I expected her to fully accept the invitation, but she pulled back and said she was busy. I wasn't quite sure what to think.

That same night I got off work a little late and had to walk home in the dark again. The winds were cold that night and it was raining a little. It was scary going through those dark alleys by myself (especially with the memories of what happened last week rushing through my head) and I suddenly wished I was carrying Machop around with me like a real trainer. In a quiet alley a very nice car pulled up to me and stopped, I stopped too. The tinted window rolled down and I could hardly see the face of the person in the car.

"Hey kid, come over here." It was Rojer, I walked over to him. He whispered into my ear: "get in the car."

The door opened and he had already moved into the next seat, leaving plenty of room for me. I chose the nice car over the cold rain. The driver took off immediately after I entered the car.

"So, Ethan," started Rojer, "how've you been over the past couple of days? Everything going alright at home? How's that Machop I got you?"

"I've been chillin'…" I really didn't know what to say, but I wanted to say something impressive, at this point I still respected the guy, "Machop's… great! He's been a real help around the house."

"Really, really, that's good to hear," Rojer said completely uninterested in anything I had to say, "so have you done any training with him? You know, gotten into any battles?"

"Oh, no. I've mainly just been using him to do some chores around the house, you know, help us out a little."

"Well have you ever thought about battling with him?"

"No, I guess I hadn't considered it."

"You know, the new Johto League Championships are going to be starting in a couple of months, maybe you should consider it."

"I don't know, I've never been really interested in 'training' Pokemon."

"Maybe you should give it a try, you handled that Machop pretty well the other night."

I was strongly opposed to entering any Pokemon competition no matter how many times this guy complimented me. On the other hand, I thought of Samantha. She loves Pokemon, she wants to be Trainer herself, she might like me even more if I became a Trainer, but then how would I afford it? Rojer had grown impatient with my silence and moved on to his heavier motivation.

"Listen, kid," he started, "you know how much I paid you the other night for helping me rob that store?" I nodded my head. "I can pay you at least five times that for each badge you win me, even more if you make it to the big competition, all of this in addition to the money you already win from each Gym Leader you defeat."

I thought about this for a moment. I'd make much more money than I do now, I'd impress Samantha, and even if I didn't make it that far Joseph would be working soon and he'd be able to pick up any of the slack. My boss at the Radio Station would definitely hire me back if it didn't work out too. I didn't see any negatives.

"I think I'll do it." I responded, only slightly unsure. "How do I sign up?"

"There will be tons of ads for it in December, you can sign up any time between January 1st and the 15th. The competition itself will be in September, you have to have gotten eight badges by then to qualify." Rojer replied.

"Alright, I'm gonna do it."

"Good. You've got about two months before the start of January. I've brought these for you…" Rojer reached into his pocket and pulled out five Pokeballs. He handed them to me. "…start training now, start catching new Pokemon too. It's best to go into these sort of things with a plan so research the Gym Leaders that you want to battle and start catching Pokemon that you can use to battle them. If you need anything else just let me know."

The car stopped.

"Looks like we're here," said Rojer.

"Where?" I asked.

"Open the door."

I did and I was at my house, I stepped outside.

"Good luck, kid," he yelled out at me, "and train hard!"

The car door slammed shut and the vehicle sped away. I turned back towards my house. I was going to be a Pokemon Trainer, something I never really wanted to be, but I was excited. I walked forward into my home, completely unsure of what the future held for me.


End file.
